DAY 25

MORNING

PSALM 119:33–72

Psalm 119:54 “... wherever I lodge.”

Almost Perpetual Motion

Wesley’s biographer writes, “in order to fulfill his mission throughout the land, John Wesley had to resign himself
 to incessant travel. He became the great itinerant. For the sake of the gospel, he was prepared to lead a gypsy life. We have caught something of the energetic momentum of 
the man as we have dipped into his Journal. He was in almost perpetual motion.170 He writes later in his life that while in Oxford he had wondered, ‘how any busy man could be saved ... God taught me better by my own experience.’”171 In 1781, when he was very old, he wrote,
“I must go on; for a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me; and woe is me if I preach not the gospel.”172 In 1777 he said, “I have travelled all roads by day and by night, for these forty years, and never was interrupted yet.”173 At one point he was nearly in a shipwreck, but was saved from disaster when travelling by sea to Guernsey. Throughout his 50 years of itinerant ministry he was preserved from serious accidents. He travelled with John Nelson for a short while. At one point at St Ives, while sleeping on the floor, Wesley was using Nelson’s coat as a pillow and Nelson was using Burkitt’s notes on the New Testament as his pillow. At 3am, one morning after suffering this hard bed for a fortnight, Wesley turned over, dug Nelson in the ribs and joked, “Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer ... for the skin is off but on one side yet.”174

Duncan Wright tried to accompany Wesley, but it was too gruelling an experience. he could not keep up: “As the exercise was too much I gave it up.”175 In Wesley’s Journal there is an account of the perilous quicksands of the Solway Firth. This may have been too much for Duncan wright, but at this date Wright was just 30 years of age, while Wesley was 63.

Prayer

Thank you for the inspiration and example of our spiritual forefathers. Unleash a new wave of firebrands, of young zealots who have the energy, the perseverance and the tenacity to complete the dispensation of restoring the Gospel to England, to whomsoever they are sent, wherever you call them, whatever the cost.

170 This devotional is drawn from Skevington-Wood, A. The burning heart,115–124.

171 Wesley, J. To Miss March, 10 December 1777, 292.


172 Wesley, J. A Plain Account of Kingswood School, Vol XIII, 267.

173 Wesley, J. 16th December 1777, 177.

174 Telford, J. Wesley’s Veterans, Vol 3, 80–81.

175 Telford, J. Wesley’s Veterans, Vol 2, 39.

DAY 25

EVENING

PSALM 119:73–104

Psalm 119:74–75 “I have put my hope in your word. I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous.”

Christ Our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption

Wesley was sure of his message and his message was rooted in the bible. He said, “My ground is the bible. Yes, I am a bible bigot. I follow 
it in all things.”176 His advice was “believe nothing they say, unless it is confirmed by plain passages of holy writ.”177 One sermon that Wesley frequently preached had the title ‘Christ our wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption’. He wrote in his Journal:178

Sunday 5 August 1739

Six persons at the New Room were deeply convinced of sin; three of whom were a little comforted by prayer but not yet convinced of righteousness. Having frequently been invited to Wells particularly by (one man) who begged me to make his house my home, on Thursday the ninth I went thither and wrote him word the night before; upon which he presently went to one of his friends, and desired a messenger might be sent to me, and beg me to turn back: “Otherwise,” said he, “we shall lose all our trade.” But this consideration did not weigh with him so that he invited me to his own house, and at 11, I preached in this ground on ‘Christ Our Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption’ to about 2000 persons. Some of them mocked at first, whom I reproved before all; and those of them who stayed were more serious. Several spoke to me after, who were, for the present, much affected. O let it not pass away as the morning dew.

Tuesday 14 August 1739

I preach to Bradford to about 3000 on “one thing is needful”. Returning through Bath, I preached at a bridge to a small congregation, on “The just shall live by faith.” Three at the new-room, this evening, were cut to the heart.

Prayer

Lord, we pray that the foundation of the word of God would be firmly established like a rock in our lives, that we might be cut to the heart when we hear it, and that we would be a people who live by faith in you and your word. Help us to hear your word and put it into practice like that wise builder. Let the word of God be preached that you, Lord Jesus, are our “wisdom our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption” so that your kingdom might come and your Church be built in our nation. Let your word be preached in power across our land once again.

176 Wesley, J. Journal, Vol 3, 5 June 1766, 251.

177 Wesley, J. Sermons, Vol XXVII, The sermon on the Mount, 20.

178 Wesley, J. Journal, Vol 1, 217,8.